An obstacle standing in the way of commercial electric vehicles has been significantly reduced. KAIST professor Do Kyung Kim of the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering developed a Lithium-Manganese Oxide nano-wire for use in Lithium-ion secondary batteries. This material has 100 times more power density than traditional cathode materials for Lithium-ion secondary batteries. Its manufacturing process is simple, cheap and can be adapted for use in a wide range of fields related to batteries for electric vehicles.

Normally, Lithium-ion secondary batteries do not have enough power density to be installed in electric vehicles. If it were to be installed, the weight and size would make the car ineffective and expensive. Professor Kim’s team synthesized large amounts of nano-wires, having widths of 10 nm (nanometers, 1 billionth of a meter) or less to cathode materials, significantly boosting the power density by 100 to 200 times compared to traditional Lithium-ion secondary batteries. This is at par with current internal combustion engines used in diesel and gasoline cars.

However, all Lithium-ion secondary batteries developed up to now didn’t have enough power density required for commercial usage. Increasing the power density meant bigger battery size and weight, which was very inefficient. Also, it used expensive base materials and required a complex manufacturing process to produce; both of which served as obstacles in commercial usage.

The newly developed material, Lithium-Manganese Oxide nano-wires, made to be 10 nm or less, can overcome the Jahn-Teller distortion of traditional Lithium-Manganese Oxides because of its structural flexibility. The research of high power density Lithium-Manganese Oxide nano-wire production can be applied to industrial use shortly, strengthening Korea’s science & engineering competitiveness.

The research results have been published in the August 26 online edition of Nano Letters, the most prestigious journal in the field of nano-technology. The research results are currently in the process of patent application.

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